The 4 Nicks met B-17s over Salamaua again. This time, there were no losses on either side. I canít say the same for the airfield below.

Burma

I forgot to take the Zeros off sweep of Chittagong. The 14 remaining Zeros met the same 11 Hurricanes and lost an additional 2 of their number for no Allied loss. GrrrrrÖ..

Merauke

The invasion fleet continues to load.

Five Betties (flying out of Gasmata) attacked and obliterated an xAKL at Merauke, hitting her with 3 torpedoes. Hopefully, it was before she unloaded her supply. I have a chutai of C5M2 Babs and Dinahs flying recon and naval search missions out of Hollandia. Hollandia is a nice base. Itís out of range of Tedís airfields and at 8 hexes from Merauke, I can fly Zeros out of there with tanks. If need be, Iíll upgrade those Zeros to the A6M3a, which has a normal range of 8. Hopefully, Merauke will change hands soon and that wonít be necessary.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

8 Fleet HQ Ė SE Fleet Ė arrived at Truk. I already have a fleet HQ at Truk, Rabaul or Kwajalein so I may position this one in the Marshalls. Still not sure. Kunikawa Maru-1 Ė 6 Petes for the AV Kunikawa Maru. Iíll increase the size to 9 and upgrade to the Jake for naval search duties.

If you recall, Iíve had a shortage of IJN fighter pilots in the reserve. Itís finally easing somewhat. I cull my training units on the 15th and at the end of the month. The next cull is just a couple of days away. I checked and saw that I currently have 37 IJN fighter pilots ready to graduate! Itís about time. Although my issue isnít over, itíll definitely ease somewhat. Iíll be able to fill out all of my frontline units with a dozen or so left in reserve. I have ~18 pilots with experience >70 that are reserved for KB. They are going to fill the newly expanded carrier fighter daitai. The 50+ experience graduates will allow me to pull some 70+ pilots from some of my land based units to replenish KBís reserve.

I also took the guidance of several on here and maxed out KBís fighter daitai with rookies. Theyíre training up nicely. They wonít be ready for a bit, but they will eventually. Thanks for the advice!

Funny story. Yesterday, I was figuring out my fighter R&D at the kitchen table and my wife wandered in, seeing me write numbers on a little piece of paper and muttering to myself. She innocently asked what I was doing, so I told her I was figuring out the R&D for my fighters to optimize when they become operational. She made a comment about how into it I was considering it wasn't real. I said, "What do mean, not real? Of course it's real!" She said that she hated to break it to me, but none of it was real. I gave her my surprised look. She said that the truth hurt and that she heard me whimper when she said it. I'm not sure, but it may have been true.

Lots of the same today. Three Oscars traded for 4x Hurricanes over Chittagong. Four Nicks missed 48x B-17/LB-30s over Salamaua. Betties attacked xAKLs at Merauke (missed) and Akyab (damaged it with a 60 kg bomb.

Ted rolled out a new weapons platform here - the B-24. I'm surprised he placed them here and not somewhere where they matter. Five of them hit Dutch Harbor doing no damage.

I'm loading up an infantry regiment at Adak for an invasion of Nome, Alaska. Why you may ask? Because I can. I'll take the base, then load up and move the infantry back to Adak. Keep him reacting to me, that's all.

4 Fleet

Of the 3x independent engineer regiments I'm pulling out of Manchuoko, the electric engineer regiment and one ind eng reg are going to this AO, to Marcus Island and Saipan respectively. Gotta build up the fort levels faster.

SE Fleet

Nicks missed the B-17s over Salamaua again. This base is pretty well trashed now. That's ok. Buna and Milne Bay are repaired and Salamaua is only a level 1 airfield with no AS there yet. I like it being a target.

Burma

A bombardment force of 5x CAs hit Chittagong, destroying 6x P-40s and a Vildebeest, while trashing the airfield. Very nice.

I noticed that Ted has posted a sub at Akyab after my last BB bombardment a couple of days ago. Here's what he said recently: "Good strategy on Akyab, by the way. I never considered being surrounded. Its going to be painful relieving the siege." I've been bombing Akyab daily with 3-4 sentai of 2E bombers. More are on the way too. I have enough Helens to upgrade a sentai. That'll happen in a day or two.

In the air over Chittagong, I shot down another Hurricane for no loss. Only about half a dozen oppose me now.

I discovered that at Silchar, the base just NW of Imphal, Ted based a lot of bombers. I sent the Lily II sentai for a visit and destroyed 2 Blenheim IVs and a Hudson IIIa on the ground. Gotta keep Ted wondering where I'm going to hit next.

I was able to fill up all of my land based front line Zero units. I still have some spares and will swap out some 70+ experience pilots and replace them with some of the 50+ experience pilots in the pool to fill up my KB daitai. I am still short about a dozen for KB but I can fill them up in a day or two. Right now I have ~10x 50+ and 15x 70+ fighter pilots in the pool.

Ted's a riot in his emails....

"Yup, those B-17s are pretty much invincible. Every time I see a new airframe come up against them I fire up the Solli voodoo doll and sacrifice a few chickens, hoping that model isn't the answer to your prayers. So far so good."

Next come the Tojo IIa. They start production on 1 Nov. We'll see how his voodoo doll works this time.

I suspect things are going to heat up somewhere soon. You're going on the offensive somewhere eventually. Until then I'll just continue to build forts. Wonder what a level 6 fort does to an attacker.....

Part of his response:

Yeah you're right, it is kind of ho-hum. Its the calm before the storm :). Actually, I think it will remain like that for a while, at least until the end of 1942. I am not confident that my fighter pilots can effectively cull your pilots and thats one of the major blocks right now. The other one is infrastructure, but thats coming along nicely.

When transferring pilots, do you send them to the general reserve and then pull into the final unit or do you use the request veteran button to pull the pilot directly out of the training unit. Not sure if one or the other gets the pilot there faster. The request veteran lets you pick the exact pilot, which might be best for KB where you want the best pilots.

When transferring pilots, do you send them to the general reserve and then pull into the final unit or do you use the request veteran button to pull the pilot directly out of the training unit. Not sure if one or the other gets the pilot there faster. The request veteran lets you pick the exact pilot, which might be best for KB where you want the best pilots.

thoughts?

I typically pull them into general reserve. For the IJA, I have a big reserve, 719 pilots as of 23 Jul 42. The IJN reserve is smaller at 494, but I have reserve pilots of every type for both service. When I need a pilot for a unit, I pull the worst of the reserve pilots for the skill I need. That way, I preserve the best pilots for later in the war where it may make a difference (but probably won't).

When I draw a pilot out of the reserve, I always use the request veteran button. I don't leave anything to chance.

I hope you are sending recon to Calcutta daily. If so, consider a night bombing attack on the AF or port when moonlight is close to 100% with Helen/Sally. Just keep him honest.

Michael, I never seem to look at the % moonlight. I need to try your tactic. It is a good idea. I do night bombing every turn, primarily on airfields that typically have CAP. Every now and then I get lucky. Akyab get >100 bombers a day there in daylight raids. Ted doesn't even try to oppose it. He doesn't have enough fighters. He reserves his fighters for Chittagong primarily. I'm slowly moving the bulk of my army to take out Akyab, which is still surrounded. He hasn't even tried to send a cargo ship there in about a week or so game time. He is sending unescorted transport in, and I shoot down some each day. Nice experience for the fighter sentai I have sweep the place each day.

By the way, I just completed the 23 July 42 turn. I just haven't had a chance to update here. I'll get to it tomorrow I hope.

... I always use the request veteran button. I don't leave anything to chance.

+1

I've been noticing I've had to do this lately, as even with the experience modifier showing a number like 70 I can't trust it to pull only air skill pilots into fighter groups. It becomes a lot of fiddling once you start to lose 50 pilots in a day like I have recently!

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

For me it is a case that TB and DB pilots can only be discerned manually via the vet button. Since I train those differently, I don't want DB pilots in my TB units and TB pilots in DB units are a waste of training. For me, DB pilots suffer FAR heavier losses so replacement rates are FAR higher. So my training program is a lot shorter, no point wasting any unnecessary time.

Rough day over Chittagong for both sides. Overall, I lost 7 Zeros (+3 op losses) and 6 Oscars (+3 op losses) vs. 15 P-40s (+5 op losses). I am definitely pulling out my Zeros and letting my Oscars carry on this offensive. There definitely were some P-40 reinforcements here because I saw 66 of them in the first attack!

SE Fleet

Nothing of note except Tedís B-17s visited Buna today. Theyíre hitting the troops there and, fortunately, not doing any permanent damage. I know why though. A unit has moved to the Owen Stanley Mountains between Pt. Moresby and Buna. Invasion! Iíll bomb them tomorrow to get some intel and see what Iím up against. Right now the only combat troops in Buna is a Naval Guard company. The nice thing is that there is no damage to the port or airfield so I can continue to build up the forts, currently at ~2.50.

Australia

I made a mistake here. I decided to go off on a jaunt with the 20 and 38 Divisions and an artillery regiment. They followed the road to the east to cause a ruckus, which they did. They got to within 1 hex of Normanton(?) and Ted sent an Aussie recon bn out to meet and greet them. It got trashed. Ted thought it was a tank regiment. Well, Normanton has 9 units there. Iím not going to risk my divisions so theyíre headed back to Darwin. Thatís a long walk. Ted decided to send every 2E bomber in range after them. The 20 Division has been spared and is getting away, but the other two units are getting hit repeatedly. They arenít taking much damage, but the attacks keep changing them from move to combat mode slowing them down dramatically. Tedís not using any fighters to escort them so I really want to get my units within fighter range of Darwin so I can ambush the bombers. Itíll be awhile unfortunately.

To make matters worse, my tank regiment that took Katherine kept heading south to Daly Waters and was trashed in an attack there. It lost almost half its strength. Itís been retreating north with an Allied unit chasing it. The Allied unit took Katherine and continued north. All Darwin has is an AS unit. Iím flying an SNLF para unit in to Darwin for some defensive strength. Iím also diverting the Merauke invasion force, the 48 Division to Darwin, just in case itís needed. Theyíll remain embarked until I find out what unit is opposing me.

*Sigh* Stupid mistake.

Other Stuff

I got Hiryuís Kate Daitai today. Itíll fill up with the B5N1 Kate (18 planes) and take pilots from the reserve and move to merry up with the Unyo, where itíll increase size to 27 planes. Itíll be a nice addition to MKB.

Well, the land invasion of Buna is the Aussie 6 and 18 Divisions! I feel I need to contest this. I am going to fly and ship in the Guards Brigade. They have been sitting in Rabaul the entire war drinking sake. They were destined to invade Pt. Moresby, and we all remember how that turned out. I have a Tina daitai, Topsy chutai and Mavis transport chutai in Rabaul that will begin flying the Guards into Buna. In addition, I will send a string of xAKLs in single ship TFs with more troops. Each xAKL can carry 27 infantry squads plus a handful of other squads. I suspect most, if not all, of the Guards bde will get there in time. Iím also shipping in more supply as well.

The lone xAKL Heiwa Maru was tasked with shipping supply from Rabaul to Rossel Island, where a level 2 airfield has been built. Just north of her destination, a Dutch sub surfaced and attacked her. Even though the tiny ship was hit by 3x 75mm rounds, she fought back and hit the sub with 2x 80mm rounds, driving the sub off! She finished her mission and will return to Rabaul for repairs. Banzai!!!

Burma

A Zero daitai has been sweeping Imphal for days. Today Ted decided to contest it. Eight Hurricane IIbs flew and only 4 returned home at a cost of 1 Zero. If you recall, I started production of the A6M3a and shut off the A6M2 factories. My Zero pool is depleted but tomorrow I will upgrade the Zuikakuís fighter daitai with the A6M3a which will put Zuikakuís A6M2s into the replacement pool. Itís working perfectly.

SE Fleet

Nothing to report except that my bombers arenít doing much to the Aussie divisions moving toward Buna. Tedís 4Es are hitting my troops in Buna and they arenít doing much either. A Nick did shoot down a B-17 though.

Other Stuff

The A6M5 research advanced to May 43. With 6x 30 factories researching this aircraft, I expect it to become operational by 1 Nov 42.

There was one important bit of intel that I discovered though. In my daily bombing raid of Merauke by a Helen sentai, I destroyed a Dauntless DB on the ground. So Ted has stationed Dauntlesses there. More losses for my invasion force when it finally goes in. I upgraded the Zuikaku fighter daitai with the A6M3a and am waiting for the planes to repair. They should be ready in a few days.

Saipanís forts reached level 6. The engineers there are loading for movement to Tinian to work on forts there.

Over Chittagong, we shot down 4 of 6 Hurricane IIbs for one Oscar op loss. Very nice.

I landed an infantry regiment at Nome, Alaska. Why, you ask? For fun. He had a small base force there. If it was unoccupied, I was going to just withdraw but now that I know he has a force there, Iím going to send in a Naval Guard company as a garrison. Here was Tedís response:

Nome ? Nome ?? I take aspirin every time I look at that.

That comment made that invasion worth it. I almost fell out of my chair when I read it.

Now for the serious part. We all know and love the 5x Tonan Whaler class TKs we have. I keep them in a single TF and use them to haul oil and resources from Singapore to the Home Islands. Iíve gotten lazy with my TK TFs and have been letting them choose their own paths. Not good. This particular TF was on its way back to Singapore (so it was empty fortunately) and was 3 hexes north of Naha. The Perch happened to have good torpedoes today and put 2 into the Kyokuyo Maru causing heavy damage: 69-68(44)-48(27)-27. Sheís making for Naha, a size 3 port, which sheíll make in a day and a half. Those fires donít look good though. Iím loading a naval HQ to ship to Naha and am sending an AR there as well. This is the first TK Iíve had hit. Of course itís a Tonan Whaler.

Ted has had a sub hanging around off Finschafen and she caught an xAKL putting 8 shells into her and sinking her. Fortunately, she was empty.

SE Fleet

Iíve had a Helen sentai bomb the two Aussie division heading for Buna for a few days. Today they got ambushed by P-39s(!) and 8 of my bombers were shot down. *Sigh*

Tedís 4E bombers went after the airfield at Lae today. Iím surprised he doesnít hit Bunaís airfield. I guess he wants to take it intact. My reinforcement and resupply of Buna continues unhindered.

China

I have a small op to clear out the 2 clear hexes just south of Nanchang. I hit the hex SE of Nanchang today pushing the rabble to the west (the other hex I am going to hit). The 10:1 attack caused 1637 (137) Chinese casualties to 373(1) Japanese.

Burma

Over Chittagong, I lost 5x Oscars to a P-40 and 7x Hurricane IIcs. This is my first interaction with the IIc. Seven of 21 lost is not a very good showing for them.

Other Stuff

The Soryu and 4x Shiratsuyus entered refit today at Kobe. The Kitakami and Oi are in port at Kobe and will enter refit on 1 Aug.

The Akagi, Kaga and 6x Shiratsuyus are currently in refit at Kobe. The DDs will complete their refit in 2 days and the CVs, a few days later. Four of the DDs will escort the CVs back to Davao and the remaining 2 DDs will hang around waiting for the brand spanking new Hiyo, due at the end of the month.

Reinforcement: xAK Yamaoka Maru (Std-A) Ė will convert to TK for use between Davao and Japan.

The Hurricane IIcs didnít do much better today either. For the loss of 4x Oscars, the Allies lost 2x P-40s and 7x Hurricane IIcs. Iíll take those exchanges. I have 314 IJA fighter pilots in the reserve.

TK Nitiei Maru Ė 11,600 capacity TK. This is the first of 8 of these TKs I accelerated a while back. Very nice and good timing too. 1 Artillery Mortar Regiment Ė 32cm mortars! Ė Southern Army. Not sure where they will go, but I suspect itíll be Burma.

The I-164, patrolling off Kodiak, caught the DD Cassin and put a torpedo into her. She was reported as sunk, but even if she didnít sink, sheís 7 hexes from the nearest port. Iím hoping she becomes a reef.

SE Fleet

Sixteen Betties flew into Pt. Moresby harbor and put 2 torpedoes into the xAK Si Kiang. Hopefully, she was still loaded with supply.

Burma

Over Chittagong, 2x Oscars were exchanged for a P-40 and 2 Hurricane IIcs. Fighters in this theater are getting hard to come by for the Allies. The 31 Oscars were opposed by 5 P-40s and 12 Hurricane IIcs. Ted has admitted that his fighter pilots are less than stellar right now and it appears heís low on fighters as well. Gotta keep up the pressure.

Other Stuff

The 6x Shiratsuyus completed refit at Kobe. Theyíll hang around and wait for the Akagi, Kaga and Hiyo.

The Kyokuyo Maruís fires are out! Sheís still seriously damaged at 69-68(44)-48(27)-0 but sheís safely in port at Naha with an AR and a naval HQ enroute to assist in temporary repairs to allow her to steam to the Home Islands for complete repairs.

The 6x Shiratsuyus completed refit at Kobe. Theyíll hang around and wait for the Akagi, Kaga and Hiyo.

I've been wondering about DDs and upgrades lately. All of the best DDs get neutered by the upgrades that give them things they need (AA, better DC, radar) but take away the thing that makes them useful in a surface battle (a greater number of main 12.7cm guns than US and British counterparts, lost after one aft turret is removed).

After the Fletchers arrive in force I'm noticing they can't really even hold their own. I'm sure if all still had the 6 12.7cm guns they would suffer greater losses, but as mine are now they're getting crushed.

So, do you plan to do all of the upgrades or leave some as they are?

I've chosen to leave the Yugumos that I haven't upgraded, about 1/3 of them, and a few Kageros, without the upgrades. I would have probably left both of these types untouched for use with surface forces if I had to go through it again, concentrating on the Akizuki, Shiratsuya and Asashio for CV escort and other dutys.

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

Obvert, I look at each class of DD separately, based on the type of mission I assign it. There are a couple of things that have higher priority though. ASW is one of them. The Fubuki I begins the war with no DC racks so they go into refit as soon as possible to get them those necessary DCs. Same with the PC Momi, Otori, Hashidate and DD Momo. I want all my escorts to have DC racks. The last 4 classes sit in port until they are scheduled to get DC racks.

Next I look at the mission of that class. The Shiratsuyu, Hatsuharu, Yugumo and Akitsuki classes all are my CV escorts so I want maximum AA and DCs (and later, radar). I donít care about losing a gun. If they get into a surface engagement, I screwed up badly. On the other hand, subs are always a threat and CV escorts can expect to see enemy aircraft eventually.

Next come those classes that have other escort missions. These include the Mutsuki and Kamikaze classes, which escort my AOs. Same as the CV escorts.

The Minekaze is a unique class. Right now, they are a surface and escort force stationed at Ominato. Theyíve done nothing except the occasional cargo escort mission to the Aleutians. Their small (2500) endurance precludes them from any long range mission. I also consider them obsolete. Iím not sure what Iím going to do with them. I may keep them in the 5 Fleet area, but they (along with the 3 CLs also there) canít really do much against any significant Allied force (say modern CL and larger). Another possibility is to use them as cargo escorts in the SRA. Theyíre not needed there at the moment so theyíll stay at Ominato. A third (and very likely) possibility is to use them in an ASW capacity around the Home Islands. Iíve got a lot of SCs currently in that mission but a few DDs with good crew and CO experience canít hurt. If I do this, Iíll break them up into 13 ASW TFs, each with 1x Minekaze and 3x SCs. This last possibility plays into their low endurance because none of the SCs have endurance over 1500.

The classes youíre talking about are (for me) are the Fubuki I, Fubuki II, Fubuki III (Akatsuki), Asashio and Kagero classes. These are the classes that will most likely come into a surface action. The Fubuki I & II are stationed at Truk and deemed most likely to fight enemy surface elements. They are also very likely to meet enemy aircraft and subs. The Asashio, Kagero and Akatsuki classes are split between the 2 Fleet (stationed at Singapore) and the 1 Fleet (Combined Fleet) stationed at Davao. They are most likely to meet subs right now, with the likelihood of meeting surface ships and aircraft increasing with time. All five of these classes are occasionally used as convoy escorts when necessary but I try to minimize it.

Hereís how I look at these classes. All but the final 6 classes discussed above will get every upgrade as soon as possible. Iíll look at the final 6 class upgrades as they become available but Iíll most likely take them. My philosophy is that if they canít get to the surface action, theyíre no good to me. They need all of the best the AA and ASW weapons they can get in order to survive to get to that surface action.

I also have another philosophy about surface action. I want to avoid surface action as much as possible, and when it is unavoidable, I want to overwhelm the enemy with firepower. I want to hit enemy ships with larger types of ships. If there is an enemy CA TF out there that I can hit, I will make sure I have BBs in my TF that hits them. Preferably, I want to hit enemy surface TFs with air first, and subs second. My surface TFs are a distant third. Enemy surface TFs probably have little or no CAP so my aircraft can do serious damage with little loss. My subs will hold off and attack the cripples afterward. My surface forces may go after cripples afterward if there are no enemy aircraft in the vicinity.

Finally, you wonít see my surface TFs with a lot of DDs in them. My CAs carry torpedoes, so DDs arenít much of an asset. They have little or no armor, so if they get hit, theyíre likely to not survive.

I will eventually split it into 2 (Davao and Truk) roughly evenly. That means that each TF will have 8 DD available. If a TF goes into combat, Iíll most likely use only 4 of those DDs. The remaining 4 DDs will be available as escorts after the battle. I want to make sure I always have ASW available for my ships.

Ted must be reading this AAR (only joking). His B-17s trashed Bunaís airfield today. Well, I didnít get the fort to level 3 there. *Sigh* The engineers will now start to repair the airfield damage. The bombing attack evaporated all of the supply. Fortunately, thereís an xAKL in port unloading supply so thatís short lived, but it definitely doesnít help matters.

On a curious note, the two Aussie divisions marching from Pt. Moresby to Buna have stopped moving. Interesting. I have noticed that there is more unit movement from PM to the two divisions. Maybe he thinks he canít take Buna with just 2 divisions. Thatís fine. Itíll give me more time to beef up the place. I am also going to CAP Buna with 2x Oscar sentai and the Nick sentai. I might throw in a Zero daitai from time to time as well. I get Tojos in a week. This is the first AO to get the Tojos. Iím hoping they do nice things with the first rate pilots in this theater. The Tojo upgrade should happen ~10 Aug. I have 3x Oscar sentai available in this AO.

Australia

The SNLF para bn attacked the Allied towed AT gun bn and trashed it a couple hexes north of Katherine. I had set the tank regiment to reserve Ė pursue. They chased them south a hex. I think I set the tank regiment to attack them again tomorrow. Canít remember though. (Getting old is overrated.)

Merak

I have seen 2x Allied subs sitting in Merak hex for days. Today, one of them appeared in the hex next to KB. I moved KB. Zuikakuís A6M3a daitai still isnít fully repaired. Iíll invade Merak soon, probably in a few days. Itís going to cost me, but, as they say, you have to break a few eggsÖÖ

Other Stuff

The Tonan Whaler TK is beginning to repair the flot damage. Hopefully, this will speed up when the AR and Naval HQ arrives.

Airframe R&D Update Ė Things are progressing. Only the Tojo and A6M5 have fully repaired factories and are accelerating. The 3x Oscar factories are getting there at 20, 19 & 19. The Frank is currently at 19, 11, 11, 6, 2 & 1 and the George is at 13, 12, 9, 4, 3 & 0.

I was getting a bit concerned with fuel usage, but itís been rising lately and is at 3.45 million. I pull a lot of supply and its rising slightly, which is a good sign. HI is currently at 7417. My goal is 7500. The HI pool is rising nicely at 335,637, rising about 4500 a day. Thatíll give me (after the pilot cost) ~115k per month. My 1942 goal of 700k should be exceeded easily.

More craziness off Buna today. The xAKL Bizen Maru was quietly offloading supply to the Buna garrison when the Dutch sub KXII surfaced and started firing at her with both her deck gun and torpedoes. The Bizen Maru is a Daigen class cargo ship, about 500 tons, not the cream of the IJN. Her crew was nondescript weighing in with an experience level of 28/18 day/night. Her captain was even less stunning at 14/11. Well, today that crew stepped it up a notch when they saw the sub. The Daigen class carry 2 deck guns, an 8cm gun on the stern and a 12cm/12 short gun on the bow. They both opened up on the sub hitting her once with an 8cm shell and 3 times (!) with 12cm shells. The sub failed to scratch the paint on our ship of the week and submerged to try and make it home, wherever that is. The best part of the whole thing is that the Bizen Maruís experience jumped up to 57/18! Banzai!!!

Well, I did have the tank regiment that was chasing the towed AT bn attack today. Note that the tank regiment is at only 45% strength. The 46:1 attack destroyed 34 guns and 11 vehicles for no loss to the Japanese. Banzai! They will continue to chase the remnants with the SNLF para bn following as fast as they can.

Burma

Over Chittagong, the same occurred. An Oscar sentai vs. P-40s and Hurricane IIcs. Four Oscars shot down (+2 op losses) against 4x P-40s and 2 Hurricanes. I can keep this up all year. Iím averaging >50 pilots a week graduating from my on map training program (50 exp/70 air).

Very thorough. I agree with most everything you are saying, and have done much of it along those lines. I use Es a lot for escort of TK and AO escort, often with an older DD class as the flag of the TF because their commanders are better and give more aggression to all of the other escorts. They also have the Type 2 DCs where many of the older DDs don't.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

I also have another philosophy about surface action. I want to avoid surface action as much as possible, and when it is unavoidable, I want to overwhelm the enemy with firepower. I want to hit enemy ships with larger types of ships. If there is an enemy CA TF out there that I can hit, I will make sure I have BBs in my TF that hits them. Preferably, I want to hit enemy surface TFs with air first, and subs second. My surface TFs are a distant third. Enemy surface TFs probably have little or no CAP so my aircraft can do serious damage with little loss. My subs will hold off and attack the cripples afterward. My surface forces may go after cripples afterward if there are no enemy aircraft in the vicinity.

It's great to see this. I haven't always practiced restraint in engaging in surface actions. The first time through is surly an experiment and the prudence comes now when I realize what it means to lose ships early on you're not getting back, and have to fight 3 more years without them.

That said, I've been careful with the BBs, and a bit lucky. None gone yet in 2/44. The CAs have been lost at a rate of 2 every 6 months or so. That's not good, but they did their share of damage as well. Recently though everything is different. If Two Myoko class and two Agano class with 5 Kagero/Yugumo DD with Tanaka as commander can't take on 7 Fletchers, then I know I have to readjust my expectations and resulting strategic and tactical decisions.

Staying out of surface combat is easy to say, but I also have to provide some challenge to moves forward. All TFs in the regions we're battling it out have massive air cover unless they react out of range. Subs lose most battles, but are still a dangerous weapon in the open ocean. Around New Guinea with the air and sea power concentrated, not so much.

So these changes have made me think back. Could I have set myself up differently? Just pondering those early naval upgrade decisions now and what to do in the future.

< Message edited by obvert -- 2/9/2013 11:15:34 AM >

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill